Lowercase is an extreme form of
ambient
minimalism
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
where very quiet, usually unheard sounds are amplified to extreme levels. Minimal artist
Steve Roden popularized the movement with an album entitled ''
Forms of Paper'', in which he made recordings of himself handling paper in various ways. These recordings were commissioned by the
Hollywood branch of the
Los Angeles Public Library
The Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California. The system holds more than six million volumes, and with around 19 million residents in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, it serves the large ...
.
Definition
Steve Roden stated this about the lowercase tendencies in which he began to develop in his later works: “It bears a certain sense of quiet and humility; it doesn't demand attention, it must be discovered... It’s the opposite of capital letters—loud things which draw attention to themselves.”
Examples
Artists that have contributed to the lowercase movement include
Richard Chartier
Richard Chartier (born March 29, 1971) is a sound/installation artist and graphic designer from the United States. He works in reductionist microsound electronic music, a form of extreme minimalism characterised by quiet and sparse sound.
Early ...
, Jeremy Leafey, and Carsten Nicolai, a.k.a.
Alva Noto
Carsten Nicolai (18 September 1965), also known as Alva Noto, is a German musician and visual artist. He is a member of the music groups Diamond Version with Olaf Bender (Byetone), Signal with Frank Bretschneider and Olaf Bender, Cyclo with Ryoj ...
.
10 21st-Century Music Genres Most People Haven't Heard Of - Listverse
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See also
*John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...
*Microsound Granular synthesis is a sound synthesis method that operates on the microsound time scale.
It is based on the same principle as sampling. However, the samples are split into small pieces of around 1 to 100 ms in duration. These small pieces ar ...
*Musique concrète
Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic, ...
*Postminimalism
Postminimalism is an art term coined (as post-minimalism) by Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971Chilvers, Ian and Glaves-Smith, John, ''A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', second edition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. ...
*Tape music
Jack Dangers (born John Stephen Corrigan, 11 January 1965) is an English electronic musician, DJ, producer, and remixer best known for his work as the primary member of Meat Beat Manifesto. He lives in San Francisco.
Career
Prior to founding ...
References
External links
''Whisper the Songs of Silence''
(article in ''Wired
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...
'')
Is Lowercase Music Even Music?
{{Electronica
Ambient music
2000s neologisms
21st-century music genres
2000s in music
Experimental music genres